May 7, 2019:ARC WILL BE CLOSING at the end of June
ARC WILL BE CLOSING at the end of June, 2019 after 23 exciting years brokering links and projects and programmes between the world's major faiths and international organisations and NGOs working on environment programmes. We are closing for the best of possible reasons. We have done what we initially set out to do.

May 6, 2019:The story of the Indonesian Muslim Conservation Movement
It was 1991. Fachruddin Mangunjaya was in his early 20s and had recently started his first conservation job with WWF-Indonesia in Jakarta. He was looking through a filing cabinet for some background papers when the label on one of the folders caught his eye. It said “RELIGIONS AND CONSERVATION.”

February 12, 2019:Martin Palmer profiled in Emergence Magazine
The roots of religious belief and the sacredness of nature were once closely entwined: Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder profiles ARC's Martin Palmer for Emergence Magazine (the Faith edition).

January 22, 2019:The Assisi Poems 2011
ARC's poet in residence and friend Jay Ramsay died on December 30. We've been thinking about Jay's work with us over many years, including these from ARC's 2011 Assisi celebration of green pilgrimage.

January 7, 2018:Major international conference on Faith Investment in Geneva this month
The new story of Faith Investment in a better world is a key element of the Geneva Agape Foundation and ACT Alliance conference in Geneva on January 21-22. ARC's Martin Palmer will be one of the speakers at the International Conference for Christian Investors and Development Agencies

November 27, 2018:Prince Philip's environmental Sermon for Advent
This Advent Sermon by the Duke of Edinburgh was first given at St George’s Chapel, Windsor in 1988. His observations are even more relevant today. "Christians need to use the annual celebration of the birth of our Lord as an inspiration to become better and more considerate guardians of His Creation."

November 27, 2018:How FaithInvest started. Inspiring new video from the "TED talks" of sustainability
The faiths are major investors. They currently have billions of dollars invested in the financial markets.
This new video from the Swiss Impact Investment Association of a talk by Martin Palmer and Jean-Pierre Sweerts sets in context a movement, led by the faiths, to increase the religious dollars invested in making a better world.

November 26, 2018:Have a happy ecological advent 2018
Are your Christmas meals and gifts the kindest that your resources will allow? Can you make Christmas a gift to the planet this year? Here also are some ecological Advent resources.

September 17, 2018:Redefining a good investment: Faithinvest announced
A new organisation was announced today, bringing together some of the largest religious investors representing trillions of dollars. It might change the world. It will certainly redefine the meaning of a “good investment”.

September 13, 2018:Report from the First Maoshan Daoist Ecological Temples Forum
The First Maoshan Daoist Ecological Temples Forum ran from August 19-21 at Maoshan near Nanjing. It has been described by the China Daoist Association (CDA) as the ‘most successful Daoist event for 10 years”. This is what happened.

August 15, 2018:The Economist features FaithInvest
In its obituary story about Tessa Tennant, doyenne of ethical impact investment, who so sadly died last month, The Economist's Erasmus column leads on FaithInvest

July 19, 2018:The road from Zug 2017 to the creation of FaithInvest
From an extraordinary, powerful meeting ARC cohosted in Zug, Switzerland in November 2017, bringing together some of the largest religious investors, a new faith-consistent investment alliance is emerging.
It is called FaithInvest. It might change the world. It is certainly one of the most important initiatives ARC has ever been involved with.

May 12, 2018:News from the 8th World Sikh Environment Day 2018
We've just heard from our friends at EcoSikh that the Eighth World Sikh Environment Day was the biggest ever.
It was celebrated by 5,100 Sikh Gurdwaras, institutions, schools and communities across India and all over the world on March 14, more than any other years since the beginning of celebration in 2011.

May 1, 2018:Faith Initiative magazine features religions and environment this month
Faith Initiative magazine www.faithinitiative.co.uk this month has a series of important articles on Faith and climate change, featuring articles by ARC's Martin Palmer and our partner organisations the Bhumi Project and EcoSikh, as well as Harfiyah Haleem from the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences IFEES. Link to the articles here.

April 19, 2018:Penguin India publishes important new book on Hinduism and Nature
We have just received our copy of Hinduism and Nature by historian, environmentalist (and good friend of ARC) Dr Nanditha Krishna. It is about the mythical stories and religious significance of India's varied landscapes. And how those stories are one of the things that can and might protect India's animals and places from the bulldozers of progress.

February 14, 2018:Urgent Environment Agenda for the Jewish People: Jerusalem Post reports
Winner of Israel’s Green Globe Award in the Knesset and named by CNN as one of the world’s top six Green Pioneers, YOSEF I. ABRAMOWITZ remembers back to ARC's 2009 Windsor Castle Environmental celebration as one of the key moments in creating the Jewish environment agenda

January 23, 2018:Update from the EcoCoffin project in South Africa
In around 2005 ARC became involved in an extraordinary, wonderful project run by a team in South Africa. Asking the question: "What kind of coffin would you like to be buried in?" it made coffins out of the timber of invasive tree species. Here's an update.

November 5, 2017:ARC's Zug Faith in Finance meeting in pictures and in the news
The Zug Faith in Finance meeting, from October 30-November 1 at Lassalle Haus, Zug, Switzerland, could transform how the Sustainable Development Goals are financed; it could help bring about a safer, fairer, cleaner planet. Here are some details of the event in film and pictures, and in the news.

October 24, 2017:PRESS RELEASE: Faith groups using their investment funds to create a better world
ZUG, SWITZERLAND: October 24, 2017: Financial investors and leaders of more than 30 different faith traditions representing over 500 faith investment groups from eight religions and around three trillion dollars in assets, will meet in Zug this month, together with representatives of the UN and some key ethical “impact” investment funds, for a unique international meeting on Faith in Finance.

October 3, 2017:Major Catholic church funds to make record divestment from fossil fuels
As more than 40 significant Catholic institutions pledge to make largest ever faith-based divestment, on the anniversary of the death of St Francis of Assisi, ARC prepares for a landmark meeting in Zug, where representatives from significant religious funds will discuss where they CAN put their investment wealth to make a better planet.

September 30, 2017:Why the global food industry is killing wild animals and why it matters
ARC's secretary-general Martin Palmer will be giving a talk at Compassion In World Farming's extraordinary and important conference in October on how over-farming is leading to extinction of species. Here he explains how a new narrative is needed, because the current system is about excess, greed and foolishness disguised as ‘market forces’.

September 2 2017:Buddhist Monks Establish Network on Forest Conservation
Last month, August 2017, ARC and our Cambodian NGO partner, Ponlok Khmer (PKH) supported the launch of an exciting new network in Cambodia made up of Buddhist monks leading grassroots forest conservation initiatives.

September 1, 2017:The Pope and Patriarch issue a joint statement this Creationtide
"We urgently appeal to those in positions of social and economic, as well as political and cultural, responsibility to ... respond to the plea of millions and support the consensus of the world for the healing of our wounded creation." The Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch issue a joint statement to mark the beginning of this Creationtide period Sept 1 to Oct 4, 2017

July 27, 2017:First sacred cities investment meeting July 24-25
This week in London, representatives of faith-based sacred city proposals totaling nearly a billion dollars discussed how their initiatives could be funded through the investment community’s growing commitment to ethical or “impact” investment.

July 23 2017:PRESS RELEASE: First Sacred Cities Investment meeting, London July 24-25
Representatives of faith-based sacred city proposals totalling nearly a billion dollars will discuss how their initiatives can be funded. They will do so, in part, because Hollywood actors, Leonardo DiCaprio and Arnold Schwarzenegger, concluded that sacred cities should be models for successful sustainable development around the world.

May 4, 2017:How three Daoist Masters went to Windsor to meet the Prince
His Royal Highness Prince Philip today announced his retirement from his official duties. For more than 30 years, as the founder of ARC, he has been supporting the work of religions around the world protecting the environment. His most recent official engagement for ARC was two weeks ago, at Windsor Castle. Three Daoist Masters came from China to tell the Prince about their environmental challenges and their amazing projects. Here is the story behind that meeting.

February 15, 2017:PRESS RELEASE: Religions to be partners in Earth Hour 2017
A new initiative, led by WWF-UK and with the help of ARC brings Earth Hour to churches and other places of worshipy. The hope is to encourage even more Christians and members of other religious communities to come together, switch off the electricity, light candles and think about protecting the planet and how to live more simply. Resource pack available here.

January 25, 2017:"A Buddhist Tradition to Save Animals Has Taken an Ugly Turn" National Geographic reports
ARC's Claudia He Yun recently witnessed an incident outside a Buddhist temple in the Tiantai Mountains. People placing a turtle in a shallow moat. A monk standing reciting a blessing for the turtle. “It was probably a sea turtle and it will probably die,” says He. National Geographic reports on ARC's work with Buddhists in China to make "mercy release" "compassionate release".

December 22, 2016:ARC's work and partners featured in National Geographic wildlife story
The work of ARC and our partners in the faiths was featured in National Geographic's pre Christmas December edition. The article describes how, with no end in sight to the illegal wildlife trade, secular organizations are working with religious leaders to help combat poaching and sales of wild creatures.

December 12, 2016:What has faith to do with finance? Inspiring book launched in China with global impact
What on Earth have religions to do with international finance? Quite a lot in fact, and this week ARC, with UNDP and OECD, launched a groundbreaking exploration on how faith money can help make a good, sustainable future happen. "Important." "Inspiring" and "This could change the future" have been the first comments. Because you've visited ARC's home page, you can read it here first.

November 10 2016:Korean edition of Faith in Conservation
In 2002 Faith in Conservation, written by ARC, proved to be a surprising bestseller in the World Bank book list. This year a Korean edition was published. And the English edition just keeps on going.

June 30, 2016:What Laudato Si says about animals: a year on from the Green Papal Encyclical
A year ago this month, Pope Francis – named after the most famous lover of animals in Christian history – laid out the Catholic position on the environment – on our human relationship with Creation – in clear, beautiful, carefully considered language. Here we explore what he said about protecting animals.

June 20, 2016:Bristol Faith in the Future UN/ARC event lead story in main Baha'i news magazine
The images of religious leaders in diverse garb, marching behind colorful banners with symbols of the world’s major faiths, conveyed a sense of the sacred nature of a meeting held in Bristol in September 2015. But at the head of the procession was an ensign with the logo of the United Nations — an institution generally concerned with more worldly affairs.... Bristol Event is lead story in Baha'i quarterly One Country

February 4, 2016:Korean conservation groups join ARC network
Following from ARC’s landmark Lambeth meeting of brokers between religions and the environment in November, a new organisation in South Korea has been inspired to undertake an ambitious and exciting Faith and Forestry initiative.

December 21, 2015:Wonderful new Green Hindu Temple Guide
The Bhumi Project and ARC have created a Green Hindu Temples Guide: a beautifully-designed resource on how to make your temple or ashram greener and better and more Hindu in its relationship with the world around it.

December 16, 2015:Pilgrim to Santiago writes about how the Way taught him to be green
A three times pilgrim to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain reports about his experience being a green pilgrim, and about how the "camino" has taught him the importance of living sustainably. Landon Roussel's book The Camino Primitivo is published this month.

July 8, 2015:Launch of WHYDOICARE: climate an issue of personal conscience
Today Why Do I Care? was launched in Paris in advance of the groundbreaking Summit of Conscience July 21. It emphasises that the future of the planet is an issue of personal conscience and urges that all policymakers participating in the Paris COP21 ask themselves, personally why they care.

June 18, 2015:Far reaching Papal Encyclical on the Environment published today
Today something very extraordinary happened in the journey to link religions with conservation and conservation with religions. The Pope issued an encyclical urging Catholics to make real changes in their priorities to avert the “unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem”.

June 16, 2015:Far reaching Papal Encyclical on the Environment to be published Thursday
This Thursday something very extraordinary will happen in the journey to link religions with conservation and conservation with religions. The Pope will issue an encyclical to urge Catholics (who make up one sixth of the world population) to make real changes in their lifestyles to avert the “unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem”.

June 5, 2015:Why I Care: Summit of Conscience for the Climate
Why do you care about the environment? A groundbreaking summit, hosted by the French Government in Paris on July 21st, will bring together major religious and moral figures ahead of the December 2015 UN climate change COP talks to ask exactly that.

April 24, 2015:Interview with Martin Palmer in China Daily
"After two hours with him I used to go out to walk very slowly alongside the river to let my brain cool down, because it was like being in a most extraordinary storm of ideas." Interview with ARC's Martin Palmer in China Daily.

6 April, 2015:Twenty years on from the Ohito Declaration
Two decades ago leading faith environmentalists signed the Ohito Declaration in Ohito, Japan. The environment has got worse, since. But the religions have worked harder to save it.

March 23, 2015:Interfaith Ocean Ethics Campaign launched
A new Interfaith Ocean Ethics campaign run as part of the Franciscan Action Network has been launched to let people know about the critical problems of the oceans. Beginning with pollution and overfishing and going on from there.

March 13, 2015:Read this review of Sacred Mountains
"If you thought you knew about ecology in China, if you thought you knew about religion in China and if you thought you knew what the future might look like this book will challenge you, enthrall you and leave you with a profoundly different view of the world."

February 20, 2015:New phase for our Africa programme
As ARC regretfully announces that our funding for the Africa programme has come to an end, we pay tribute to the outstanding achievements of our faith partners. This work is moving into a new phase, led by our faith partners in Africa.

January 10, 2015:How the Royal Family makes conservation cool
Waiting for delayed flights after meeting Prince William and Kate Middleton – in the US to promote wildlife conservation – The Nature Conservancy's Peter Wheeler reflects in a blog about how the British Royal Family makes conservation cool.

December 16, 2014:Faith In Food is the Church Times pick of 2014
The leading Anglican weekly newspaper The Church Times has included ARC’s Faith in Food book at the top of its Christmas selection of top reads from 2014. Its reviewer praised it as 'the most uplifting book I have read this year'.

December 16, 2014:US publishing praise for ARC's Stories of the Stranger
The anthology of stories collected and adapted by ARC about how every faith tradition has stories about looking after strangers chalks up a starred review in the influential US website Publishers Weekly this week

December 11, 2014:Strong new partnership between The Nature Conservancy and ARC
ARC has agreed an important partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the largest nature NGO in the world. It was announced at a lunch hosted by HRH Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace on December 4, and was part of the discussions at a meeting hosted by the Bishop of London.

December 10, 2014:New chapter in Daoist ecology
“When we first met with Daoists in 1994 there was about 30 people in a freezing cold room inside a dilapidated temple. How great that now it was an amazing presentation in front of a large crowd.” ARC's Martin Palmer talks about the progress made by Daoism in meeting the country's huge environmental challenges.

November 25, 2014:Chinese TV turns the spotlight on Daoism’s conservation role
ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer will be one of the contributors on November 26, 2014, when Hong Kong based Phoenix Television broadcasts a debate about what Daoism contributes to environmental awareness and action in modern China.

November 12, 2014:Daoism and Christianity - new podcast explores historic links
In a new podcast called ‘The Dao of Jesus’ on the Things Unseen website ARC Deputy Secretary General Alison Hilliard and Secretary General Martin Palmer discuss the ways in which Daoist thought has enabled a different reading of Christian traditions across the centuries and how this has influenced Martin’s own faith.

November 4, 2014:UNESCO hails ESD toolkit as an excellent example of good practice
The Faith-based Education for Sustainable Development Teacher's Toolkit developed by ARC with African partners has been specially selected by UNESCO as an good example of 'ESD practice in action'. It is one of 25 chosen out of 900 possible projects.

October 24, 2014:Faith leaders call for Faithful Farming to be practiced across Africa
African faith leaders have called on faith communities to practice faith-based sustainable agriculture - and for an Alliance of Faithful Farming to be established to spearhead these efforts - in order to grow more food, reduce poverty and protect the environment.

October 14, 2014:Canterbury launches partnership with pilgrimages
The historic cathedral city of Canterbury has launched the Green Pilgrimage Canterbury Partnership bringing together 40 local sacred sites, pilgrim routes, food producers and tourism authorities in a commitment to making pilgrimage environmentally friendly.

September 15, 2014:Join faiths praying for a strong climate treaty in Paris 2015
Spiritual and religious leaders from around the world are launching the interfaith ourvoices.net initiative to let world leaders see the moral imperative for a global climate treaty by the
December 2015 Meetings in Paris. Includes a new prayer by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

September 2, 2014:Islamic Farming introduced to Uganda
Following the successful introduction of Islamic Farming in Kenya the first group of Ugandan farmers has now been taught the principles of this sustainable method..

July 21, 2014:One of the "10 top books for summer": ARC's Faith in Food
ARC's Faith in Food is one of the Sustainable Food Trust's top ten books for summer buying: "the most beautiful of reference books to be pulled down when you want a rounded look at GMOs, insight into dietary laws or simply a powerful and poetic reminder of why our food choices have moral and ethical impacts."

July 15, 2014:Confucius returns to the mainland: South China Morning Post story
The heat was intense. As the speakers took the podium in the gardens of Shenzhen Polytechnic a young woman fainted. Within a few seconds, a second student followed... article by ARC's Victoria Finlay on the return of Confucianism, ARC's latest faith partner.

July 1 2014:Church Times and Independent both hail Ise agenda
The worlds leading Anglican newspaper joined one of the UK’s most influential daily papers in publishing a feature article about the ISE conference organised jointly by ARC and Jinja Honcho, the Association of Shinto Shrines.

June 19, 2014:PRESS RELEASE: Faith in Food, wonderful new book
When a young boy says: ‘It’s easier to get a gun in our neighbourhood than it is to get a salad,’ and he’s not standing in the middle of a war zone, then we know there is something wrong with our attitude towards food and where it comes from.

June 2, 2014:The day an ancient taboo bowed out
Today ARC walked with one of the most traditional religions in the world, the Shinto of Japan, as they took a deliberate step to open up to the international world.

April 9, 2014:East African Catholics publish new environmental 'toolkit'
Catholic teachings on the environment linked with African spirituality and traditional beliefs on caring for Nature have been cleverly woven together in a new book for catechists and seminarians entitled 'Stewardship Of God’s Creation'.

February 18, 2014:Happy Hindu Environment Week!
The first ever Hindu Environment Week, organised by ARC partners in The Bhumi Project, runs from February 17-23 with Hindus worldwide involved in events and activities to combat threats to the environment and promote a message of walking lightly on the Earth.

January 8, 2014:Islamic green awards launched for mosques
MADE in Europe - the UK-based campaigning organisation for young Muslims - has launched the Green Up! Awards to encourage mosques and other Islamic groups to address environmental issues in line with Qur'anic teaching.

December 22, 2013:ARC Africa newsletter - December 2013
This has been a packed year of eco action for our African faith partners. This newsletter has news of faith-based environmental education and the first Ugandan network of faith groups working on the environment.

December 17, 2013:Tenth anniversary of the passing of Sri Kushok Bakula
A special ceremony has been held in Ladakh, Northern India, to commemorate the passing of the 19th Kushok Bakula Rinpoche on November 4, 2003. Sri Kushok Bakula was one of the great supporters of environmental action by faiths, and was a long-time friend of ARC.

October 29, 2013:New film about Bangladesh water conservation
“There are no living things in this water: not even an insect can survive here.” A fascinating new film about the water crisis in Bangladesh and what can be done to solve it.

October 2, 2013:Master Ren Farong to give lecture at SOAS this Friday
Senior Daoist from China, Master Ren Farong, is going to talk about
Daoism and its modern-day application at the Khalili Lecture Theatre at
SOAS, from 17:30 to 18:30 on Friday, Oct.4. This would be suitable for anyone interested in how Daoism fulfills its spiritual role in China. Do join us. Admission is free.

September 18, 2013:PRESS RELEASE: Creating Tanzania’s young eco champions
A two-day workshop in Tanzania brings faith groups, environmentalists and educationalists together to look at integrating faith values into teaching on the environment for the country's schoolchildren.

September 17, 2013:'White Men Shooting Rhinos in the Bum with a Dart'
An article by Martin Palmer in Biodiversity magazine challenges conventional conservation practices and asserts the significance of the role of religions worldwide in addressing environmental problems.

August 23, 2013:New Chinese section on ARC website
With the arrival of the Confucianists in July as part of ARC's family (now with 12 faiths and traditions), and building on many years of working with the Daoists, we have now created a Chinese language section on our website

By Susie Weldon, August 12, 2013:BLOG: Reaping the benefits in Uganda
Everyone I spoke to told me: “So many crops have failed, there was almost
100% failure. There are difficult times ahead... So it was wonderful to hear one of our faith partners, Hajjat Sebyala Aphwa, exclaim excitedly: “Susie, this Farming God’s Way really works!”

July 27 2013:Touching gift from senior Confucian scholar to head of Council of Europe
Last night, in a strong signal of cooperation between the two cultures, China’s most senior scholar of Confucianism, Professor Tu Weiming gave to the secretary-general of Council of Europe, and former prime minister of Norway, Thorbjorn Jagland, copies of the work of China’s most ancient philosopher, Confucius.

July 23, 2013:Letter to the Pope: The Amazon is a Catholic responsibility
In an unprecedented move, WWF International, WWF Brazil, and ARC have jointly written to His Holiness the Pope asking him to consider announcing that the Amazon should be seen as a specifically Catholic ecological responsibility.

By Susie Weldon, July 23, 2013:BLOG: Surprised and delighted by a phone call from Tanzania
"I was heading home from work near Bath, UK, the other day when I got the best call I'd had for weeks. I didn’t recognise the number but I knew it was from Africa". Susie Weldon writes the first of a new series of blogposts from ARC colleagues and partners, giving a flavour of working with religions and conservation in the field.

July 16, 2013:ARC launches a faith-based teacher's toolkit in Kenya
ARC will tomorrow launch a ground-breaking teachers’ toolkit that integrates faith values about caring for creation with teaching on the environment in primary schools in Kenya. Many people are getting excited about the toolkit which has been described as "carrying hope for Africa".

June 26, 2013:PRESS RELEASE: Head of China's oldest religion will visit ARC this week
The China Daoist Association Secretary General and four other key members of the Association have come from Beijing to discuss a range of practical environmental projects with ARC ranging from tackling the illegal wildlife trade to making some of the great pilgrimage places of China more ecological.

June 12, 2013:Faith and Food at Bristol's Big Green Week, 2013
How faiths respond to the problem of feeding a growing world population within diminishing resources is one of the topics under discussion in this year's festival of environmentalism.

May 17, 2013:PRESS RELEASE ValuesQuest launches with wide-ranging debates
An exciting new collaboration between ARC and the Club of Rome is launched in the UK. The aim of this ambitious and wide-ranging enquiry seeks to find an answer to the vital question: how can we transform the values guiding our society to create and maintain a sustainable, equitable and fair global society?

March 18, 2013:ARC newsletter to African faith partners
ARC's latest newsletter to our partners in sub-Saharan Africa looks at what our faith partners have been doing on environmental issues and has news of emerging partnerships with UNEP and Uganda's Ministry of Agriculture.

March 14, 2013:Happy Sikh Environment Day
More than 1,550 organisations are marking Sikh Environment Day today, March 14, with practical action from flower shows to tree planting to blessing new compost facilities to processions to prayers.

March 1, 2013:The Quiet Revolution
"To a very large extent the conservation/ ecology world has created a language, even a mythology, that largely excludes people rather than including them. And this is a major reason why we are not as successful as we once thought we might be" - Martin Palmer in the 45th edition of Resurgence magazine.

February 5, 2013:Martin Palmer's US talk on video
A 55-minute presentation by Martin Palmer about the development of ARC's work to engage religions with conservation has been made into a Youtube video.

December 25, 2012:How we forgot about Nature at Christmas
One of the oldest and most beautiful Christmas prayers comes from the Orthodox Church. It gives thanks that the birth of Christ could only have happened through all of nature working together. But this is a message that many seem to have forgotten today.

November 19, 2012:ARC November newsletter to African faith partners
In ARC's first newsletter to our African faith partners following the successful launch of their long-term commitments for a living planet in Nairobi in September, we learn how to make a solar funnel cooker and share news of workshops held and videos made.

October 25, 2012:The Sacred Life of Trees - an article by Martin Palmer
Judaism, Christianity and Islam share similar stories about planting trees; Martin Palmer explores the importance of trees to each of these great faiths for the magazine Faith Initiative: Embracing Diversity.

October 15, 2012:PRESS RELEASE: India Chapter of the Green Pilgrimage Network launched
Eleven holy towns and cities in India came together yesterday to launch the India chapter of the international Green Pilgrimage Network (GPN). The meeting, which took place on the seventh day of the United Nations COP 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, was hosted by ARC and ICLEI.

October 9, 2012:Green Pilgrimage Network to meet in Trondheim in 2013
Following on from the inaugural celebrations in Assissi, Italy in 2011 dates have now been announced for the second official international meeting of the Green Pilgrimage Network (GPN) which will take place in the holy city of Trondheim, Norway in July 2013.

August 15, 2012:Creating a sacred space in a deprived urban estate
What happened when an expert in Chinese sacred landscapes met a traditional English Christian congregation? The challenge was to create a contemporary sense of the sacred in the heart of a deprived housing estate on the edge of a major city.

July 24, 2012:Sacred Land featured in Daily Telegraph
Geoffrey Lean, columnist for the Daily Telegraph, explores the concept of Sacred Land with reference to historic Bristol and exciting new developments.

July 24, 2012:Inspiring new book by Green Patriarch: On Earth as in Heaven
On Earth as in Heaven by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew is an example of how religious belief can be "one of the most radical forces for transforming both how we see nature and the world and how we should revise entirely our understanding of our place within it."

June 12, 2012:Times of India reports on Green Amritsar
An article in the Times of India heralds the arrival in the Punjab of EcoSikh president Dr Rajwant Singh on a four-week visit to promote the launch of Green Amritsar

June 12, 2012:Quakers grow a low-carbon sustainable community
One Quaker Meeting is developing a rooftop herb garden. Another is redesigning its garden using permaculture methods to introduce fruit and nut trees and edible plants. A third runs a food co-operative, providing healthy food as well as cooking workshops to the community.

May 17, 2012:ARC holds a sustainable agriculture workshop in Kenya
Kenya has lost 50% of its forest cover in the last 30 years. That was the alarming statistic heard by faith leaders yesterday at a workshop in sustainable agriculture and creation stewardship organised by ARC in Kijabe, Kenya, this week.

May 14, 2012:New logo for Green Pilgrimage Network
The Green Pilgrimage Network, which was launched at ARC's Celebration in Assisi in November, has a new logo, designed by the team from US-based GreenMaps.

Last updated May 5, 2012:Great reviews for Martin Palmer's Sacred Land book
BBC Radio 2 presenter Aled Jones called it "a cracker"; there have been reviews and articles in the The Spectator, The Daily Telegraph, The Ecologist, and numerous radio interviews for Martin Palmer's latest book, Sacred Land, published this spring.

April 25, 2012:Making Buddhist teachings on protecting nature more relevant
"Sometimes we in the faiths strive too hard to make our teachings and traditions relevant to the modern world. In the case of Buddhism I don't think this is necessary. The core teachings of Buddhism about illusion, reality and the nature of compassion are eternal. They are truths we need to hear today as much as in the time of the historical Buddha" - Martin Palmer at the 3rd World Buddhist Forum, Hong Kong

April 23 2012:New teaching resources for GCSE Religious Studies
ARC has developed teachers' resources, lesson plans, students' notes and worksheets for two GCSE Religious Studies lessons focused on religion, conservation and the significance of the 1986 Assisi Declarations.

April 3, 2012:Record numbers celebrated Sikh Environment Day this year
On March 14th, Sikhs celebrated the second Sikh Environment Day (Sikh Vatavaran Diwas) with the incredible number of more than 1,000 institutions participating, more than double the participation recorded in the first Sikh Environment Day in 2011.

March 29, 2012:Saturday is Earth Hour!
Earth Hour 2012 will take place on Saturday 31 March at 8.30PM (local time). ARC will once again be joining. But this year we are putting an extra emphasis on sustainable food that is kind to the earth.

March 28, 2012:Jerusalem welcomes swifts to the Western Wall
The welcoming of swifts back to the Western Wall has become a ceremony that is held in Jerusalem every springtime. Jerusalem is one of the members of the Green Pilgrimage Network, and this is part of the movement to protect all nature, through thoughtful stewardship, gentle policies, and vigorous campaigning for improvements for all creation.

March 25, 2012:BBC World Service features ARC's Uganda partner
The conservation work of ARC Partner Hajjat Sebyala Aphwa and her Gomba Women's Greening Project in Central Uganda was hailed as 'brilliant' in a BBC World Service 'Heart and Soul' radio programme broadcast worldwide on March 25, 2012.

March 22, 2012:Water Is Life: World Water Day 2012
As World Water Day reminds us all of the water security issues facing many developing countries a workshop in Africa gives inspirational examples of how faith schools are tackling the challenge.

March 19, 2012 :ARC condolences on the passing of Pope Shenouda III
ARC staff were saddened to hear of the passing, on March 17, 2012, of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Patriarch of the Coptic Orthodox Church, whose vision and commitment led the Coptic Orthodox Church to become a key force for the good of all creation.

18 March, 2012:Hundreds of thousands celebrate Sikh Environment Day 2012
The second Sikh Environment Day, coordinated by our sister organisation EcoSikh has been an astonishing success. More than 1000 Sikh gurdwaras, schools, businesses and community groups celebrated - in practical and creative ways.

March 12, 2012:Happy Sikh Environment Week
Hundreds of Sikh gurdwaras, schools and organisations have signed up to celebrate Sikh Environment Week - around the March 14 birthday of the Seventh Guru, who cultivated gardens and could not hurt animals.

March 6, 2012:Nairobi ARC workshop on religion and environmental teaching
More than 50 teachers and faith leaders from Christian and Muslim groups in sub-Saharan Africa are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, in March 2012, to discuss how to integrate religious values into education on sustainable development in faith schools.

February 21, 2012:Christians take eco pledges for Lent
Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has given up meat for Lent, Washington Interfaith Power and Light have created a programme of 45 eco actions, one for each day of the Christian fasting period. Here are some ideas.

February 20, 2012:Green Maps founder Wendy Brawer speaks to ARC
The inspirational founder of Green Maps explains the impact of these resources and outlines some exciting possibilities for initiatives like the Green Pilgrimage Network

February 17, 2012:ARC and Tree Aid hold an agroforestry workshop in Ghana
ARC is collaborating with British NGO Tree Aid to provide training in agroforestry and tree nursery management to faith groups in Ghana. The workshop is aimed at helping them fulfil their aim of planting millions of trees in the next seven years.

January 31, 2012:ARC discusses pilgrimage on the BBC's Beyond Belief programme
Pilgrimage - faith and secular - was the subject of a BBC Radio programme broadcast this week and available listen to on the BBC website. ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer was one of three guests invited to discuss why millions of people go on pilgrimage every year.

January 3, 2012:BBC features St Albans and green pilgrimage this Christmas
When BBC Radio 4 wanted something really special for the Christmas Day edition of its flagship Sunday programme, it decided to focus on what it means to be a pilgrim and, in particular, what it means to be a green pilgrim. And where better to turn than the cathedral city of St Albans, a founder member of the Green Pilgrimage Network?

January 3, 2012:Prince Charles plants a mango tree in Tanzania
A tree-planting project run by one of ARC's partners, the Northern Diocese of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, received a helping hand from Prince Charles during his recent royal visit to East Africa; His Royal Highness planted a mango tree.

December 21, 2011:Real or fake: which Christmas tree is more eco-friendly?
As millions of people around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas Day on Sunday, many find themselves pondering a question which arises at this time of year: which is more environmentally friendly - a real or fake Christmas tree?

December 16, 2011:Faith leaders spearhead climate change challenge
Faith leaders joined forces this month to urge decision-makers to act in the interest of humanity to reach an agreement on global climate change. African faith leaders played a major role in lobbying at the United Nations' conference in Durban, South Africa.

December 9, 2011:Bhutan Compassion & Conservation conference: report
The first Compassion and Conservation conference in Bhutan could not have gone better. Sixty-three high lamas, monks and nuns from throughout the country gathered in Thimphu, by invitation from Dratshang Lhentshog, the Commission for Monastic Affairs in Bhutan. The report is now available online.

December 6, 2011:Japanese TV Company airs Assisi footage
Throughout ARC's Sacred Land event in Assisi last month our media partners UBrain TV recorded the celebration and conference as well as interviews with key contributors.

November 30, 2011:Faiths telling stories about how we should treat strangers
There are increasing number of ecological migrants in the world. ARC has begun to explore the issues of how we treat strangers, by looking at story-telling within the faiths. And last week, in London, six storytellers told powerful stories from Buddhist, Christian, Daoist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Zoroastrian traditions, drawing both on formal scriptures and informal mythologies and folk tales.

November 18, 2011:Church of England launches petition on solar panels
The Church of England is calling on the British Government to slow down its plans to halve the income which organisations can earn from solar panels in order to give churches and other community groups more time to complete installation.

November 15, 2011:ARC featured on China's CCTV and BBC's Radio 4
A major interview on Daoism and its relevance to China today with ARC's Martin Palmer was broadcast to tens of millions last night on China's state television network. It was broadcast in English and Chinese, with subtitles, and can be watched here. Meanwhile today's broadcast of Saving Species on BBC Radio 4 featured ARC's Assisi event, launching Green Pilgrimage.

November 2, 2011:Green Guide to the Hajj launched at Assisi, Italy
The first guide to an environmentally sustainable Hajj has been launched to encourage Muslim pilgrims - now arriving in Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia for this year's pilgrimage - to reduce their impact on the Earth.

November 1, 2011:PRESS RELEASE: Green Pilgrimage Network launches
A ban on cars on pilgrimage routes; solar panels for cathedral roofs; provision of fresh clean, water for pilgrims, and the planting of thousands of trees around sacred sites - these are just some of the initiatives which the founder members of the Green Pilgrimage Network today pledged to implement.

October 30, 2011:Princess Michael of Kent to be guest of honour at Assisi
Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent has kindly agreed to be our guest of honour at the Sacred Land launch and celebration in Assisi, Italy. Unfortunately, due to illness, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh will not be able to attend as planned.

October 28, 2011: Quakers' eco stories
British Quakers are tackling the challenge to lead more environmentally friendly lifestyles with gusto. Individuals and Local Meetings are responding to the Living Witness Project with imagination, commitment and a sense of fun.

October 28, 2011:Friends put their House in order
Floor-coverings made from recycled bottletops, solar panels and recycled furniture are part of a low-carbon refurbishment of the Quakers' Friends House in London.

October 4, 2011:ARC to contribute to International Taoism Forum in China
ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer will speak about Daoism and the Environment at a major Daoist gathering in October, 2011. The event will take place in Heng Shan, Hunan province - and for the first time is a Daoist event sponsored by the Government.

October 4, 2011:PRESS RELEASE: US Hindu Temples Endorse Green Pilgrimage Network
The Green Pilgrimage Network initiative was endorsed last week by some 280 primarily US-based Hindu delegates, representing more than 100 temples and Hindu organizations from across the world at the sixth annual Hindu Mandir (Temple) Executives' Conference (HMEC) in Columbus Ohio.

August 26, 2011:New publication looks at how faith can shape our future
ARC has contributed to a new publication looking at faith and the environment. Moving Mountains: How can faith shape our future?, is a Green Futures special edition published by Forum for the Future, which was founded by UK environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt.

August 16, 2011:Low carbon future for Quakers in Britain
Quakers in Britain have committed their whole movement to becoming a low-carbon, sustainable community. It means every Quaker in Britain will be urged and supported to reduce their carbon footprint.

August 1, 2011:ARC and Oxford University to map sacred forests
Oxford scientists are aiming to produce a global map of the land owned or revered by religions. Many of these religious forests and sacred sites contain some of the richest biodiversity in the world, including some of the highest numbers of threatened species.

July 8, 2011:Prominent South African politician buried in an eco-coffin
Popular human rights activist, former minister, founder of anti-aparteheid organisations, the high profile Professor Kader Asmal chose to be buried in an eco-coffin, built under the auspices of a project ARC helped start in 2005.

June 27, 2011:Interview with Sir Miles Hunt-Davis
Sir Miles Hunt-Davis became ARC's international president in 2011. ARC's communications director, Victoria Finlay talked to him about his work as British Commander in Nepal and Prince Philip's private secretary for nearly 20 years, and about the importance of engaging religions in conservation issues.

June 20, 2011:BBC film about Prince Philip and ARC now on Youtube
A major BBC film to celebrate Prince Philip's 90th birthday featured ARC's work, and includes interviews with ARC's director Martin Palmer. It also includes some rare footage of ARC's 1986 Assisi event. Links to the full programme on Youtube can be found by linking from this page.

June 10, 2011:BBC radio discusses the Vatican's climate change report
The BBC's One Planet programme has gone behind the scenes at the Vatican to talk to Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Academy of Sciences, about the Vatican's recent report calling for humankind to take "decisive action" on climate change.

May 24, 2011:Sikh Environment Day 2011 - how we all did it.
During the week of March 14th 2011, more than 450 Sikh temples (gurdwaras), schools, and organizations around the world participated in Sikh Environment Day. This is a very exciting start to an annual Sikh event that we believe will last and grow for many years.

May 23, 2011:ARC Staff construct a Tippy Tap
Tippy Tap is promoted as a simple device that can be built by anyone. To put this theory to the test, members of the ARC staff decided to build their own Tippy Tap during a lunch break.

May 9, 2011:Vatican issues sobering report on climate change
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican is one of the oldest scientific institutes in the world. So when it issues a sobering report on the "serious and potentially irreversible impacts" of climate change, it's worth taking notice.

May 5, 2011:Ghana churches start planting two million trees
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Ghana has sent ARC the first photos of an ambitious programme to plant two million trees around the country and train communities and fire fighters to nurture and protect them.

April 27, 2011:Church of South India urges eco-action plan for Easter
In a pastoral letter issued on the eve of Easter, Bishop Thomas K Oommen, the new head of ecological concerns for the Church of South India, has urged all members to "join the forces of life and collaborate with God in redeeming his creation through meaningful initiatives."

April 18, 2011:Eco-rickshaws for Sikh Holy City
The district administration of Amritsar in India has introduced the first batch of eco-rickshaws. Amritsar is a key destination for many thousands of Sikh pilgrims, and last September was nominated as one of the first members of the Green Pilgrim Network, initiated by ARC.

April 9, 2011:ARC holds Faith in Food workshop in London - the biggest yet
An organic farmer for 30 years, Patrick Holden has always had a profound sympathy for the spiritual roots of the organic movement. But it was an 'extraordinary experience' at the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hindu temple in Hertfordshire two years ago that proved revelatory, he told the Faith in Food workshop organised by ARC in London.

March 30, 2011:Inspiring stories of faith eco action from Africa
In Nigeria, children attending schools run by the Qadiriyyah Sufi Movement receive half their marks upon graduation from how well they have looked after tree seedlings. In Tanzania, young people must first plant 10 trees before they can be confirmed.

March 22, 2010:Mongolian Buddhists launch Eight-Year Plan
The latest long term environment plan created by religious leaders comes from Mongolia and was launched by Mongolian Buddhist monks and nuns earlier this month.

March 23, 2011:Scottish Catholic leaders publish climate change study guide
During the Christian fast period of Lent this year, the Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews & Edinburgh has produced a study guide on the Catholic commitment to care for Creation, and explicitly addresses the issue of climate change.

March 14, 2011:Senior UN official congratulates Sikhs on Environment Day
United Nations Assistant Secretary-General Olav Kjorven has congratulated Sikhs on Sikh Environment Day, which is being celebrated today by Sikhs throughout the world, saying he "deeply admired" the work they were doing.

March 14, 2011:ARC begins major new programme in sub-Saharan Africa
ARC is embarking upon a major new programme in sub-Saharan Africa, working alongside key Muslim and Christian leaders who have committed to develop long-term environmental action plans to protect the living planet.

February 24, 2011:Daoist Eco Handbook for Temples
An inspiring handbook for Daoist temples about how - and why - to go green has now been translated into English. Download it here. It makes for inspiring reading. It includes case studies, quotes, prayers for morning, afternoon and evening, and simple advice on how to take care of nature.

February 8, 2011:Highest Sikh authority on board for Sikh Environment Day
The religious head of Sri Akaal Takhat Sahib has given a special message to all Sikhs all over the world to plant a tree on March 14, 2011, to mark Sikh Environment Day. This unprecedented announcement is thanks to EcoSikh's initiative, helped by ARC,

February 4, 2011:Two faith centres shortlisted for UK sustainability awards
Two of ARC's key UK partners - the Methodist International Centre and Friends House - have been recognised in this year's prestigious Sustainability Awards, run by the City of London. Both were shortlisted - meaning they are among the top five organisations in the UK in their category.

January 19 2011:Key ARC partner featured in major US faith publication
Baltimore's New Psalmist Baptist Church, a key ARC partner, has featured in Faith & Leadership, a major US faith publication by the prestigious Duke Divinity school.
The New Psalmist Baptist Church of Baltimore celebrated the opening of its gleaming new $25 million campus with prayer, song and dance.

January 1, 2011:New Year's Message from ARC
"If we move into the New Year burdened with the problems of the past then we don't start with a sense of optimism." Link here for a New Year Message from ARC, broadcast by UBrain TV explaining why our director bangs dustbin lids every year around the turn of the year.

December 8, 2010:Faith leaders discuss climate change on BBC World Service
Four senior Nigerian faith leaders visiting the UK at the invitation of ARC and the British Council have this afternoon taken part in a BBC World Service debate on the role of faith leaders in fighting climate change.

November 23, 2010:Faith leaders in Kenya are trusted more than the Government
Kenyan farmers trust the Church more than the government. That is not the verdict of a church leader but of the Kenyan Agriculture Secretary himself, Dr Wilson Songa, speaking at the opening day of a conference on food in Nairobi yesterday.

November 10, 2020:Sacred Soil: the foundation of life
We rarely think about the soil beneath our feet; we certainly don’t consider that one inch of "dirt" contains billions of living organisms or that healthy soil is literally the foundation of life. That sacred connection between soil, life, faith and our relationship with all creation was the theme of this year’s 15th annual Festival of Faiths at Louisville, Kentucky.

November 6, 2010:PRESS RELEASE: One Year On From Windsor: an important new report
A year ago this week, ARC and UNDP joined together to create an extraordinary event. Many Heavens, One Earth at Windsor Castle, UK, launched 31 long-term commitments to environmental action by nine major faiths worldwide. The interest was incredible, and this is a report of the hundreds of wonderful things that have come so far from Windsor and the long term faith plans to protect the living planet.

November 5, 2010:PRESS RELEASE: First Faith in Food workshop inspires and challenges
Could faith groups join together to create a trading network to source sustainably produced food? That was one of the ideas discussed at an inspiring and challenging Faith in Food workshop, organised by ARC and co-hosted in New York with the Jewish environmental group Hazon.

November 5, 2010:Honouring our values in the food we eat
ARC today launches a major new initiative to inspire faith communities to honour their values in the food they eat. Launched at the Sacred Soil Festival of Faiths in Louisville, Kentucky, the aim is to create a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food and farming system - and transform the world one meal at a time.

October 19, 2010:Religion and biodiversity in Ethiopia's sacred forests
Ethiopia's sacred forests, where land protected by churches and their communities are a vital conservation refuge for many species of plants and wildlife, have been highlighted on a BBC radio programme looking at faiths and biodiversity.

October 15, 2010:Pope sends message for World Food Day
In a message to mark World Food Day tomorrow, the Pope has urged everyone to give priority to “one of the most urgent goals for the human family: freedom from hunger”. This year’s World Food Day has the theme: ‘United Against Hunger’.

October 11, 2010:Catholics’ Pledge to St Francis
This month saw Catholics reevaluate their relationship with the ecosystem as they celebrated The Feast of St Francis. Pledging to learn, pray, assess, act and advocate environmental issues, Catholics around the world are campaigning for sustainability.

September 21, 2010:China's Minister for Religious Affairs praises ARC's work
China's Minister for Religious Affairs has given powerful support to the further development of ARC-supported religious and conservation projects in China. The meeting was reported on the Ministry's website - the first time ARC has appeared on an official Chinese government website.

September 20, 2010:Ecological plan to protect the 'dragon's vein of China'
An ecological forum in Huashan, Shaanxi Province, has issued a stirring declaration of China's determination to protect 'the natural and the spiritual ecology’ of one of its most ancient and revered sites – the Qinling Mountain range.

September 17, 2010:Monks' Community Forest in Cambodia wins prestigious Equator Prize
A group of Buddhist monks in northwest Cambodia has won the UNDP-sponsored Equator Prize celebrating outstanding community efforts to conserve biodiversity and reduce poverty.
This is one of the most prestigious prizes in the international environment world. Only 25 are awarded every two years.

August 16, 2010:Church bells ring to highlight toll of biodiversity
Church bells across the world will ring in tune with the UN on September 22 next month to mark crucial international talks on biodiversity. And meanwhile other faith groups are taking up the challenge to reduce their energy consumption by 10 percent by 10-10-2010.

July 29, 2010:Water Schools - some important new material
In July 2009 ARC organized what a very significant meeting on faith schools and water. On top of its outcomes, the conference was full of so many inspiring stories and statistics that we have decided to issue a document in order to share them.

July 28, 2010:New report: Faith institutions find responsible investment difficult
Despite the fact that faith institutions are widely considered to be the pioneers of responsible investment and make up the third largest demographic of investors globally, it appears that the stock market presents difficulties when it comes to aligning the needs of the faith with a responsible investment strategy.

April 21, 2010:People of faith celebrate Earth Day
The biggest ever faith-based live simulcast gathering of Christians on the environment comes together for the eve of Earth Day drawing thousands of churches, mostly from the US but also as far afield as Uruguay, South Africa and the UK.

April 15, 2010:Shanghai Buddhists launch their Eight Year Eco-Plan with a celebration and a promise
The ancient and influential Jade Buddha Monastery in Shanghai today launched the Shanghai Buddhist Eight Year Plan to Protect the Living Planet with a meeting of monks and nuns from all the monasteries in this vast city of 24 million people. They discussed and committed to practical and prayerful actions to protect the environment.

April 16, 2009:Armenian Orthodox start to replant their sacred forest - with a celebration
Orthodox Christians in Armenia today held a major tree planting celebration on a devastated area of former forest land. Hundreds of elm-saplings were planted in order to recreate the Nersisyan Forest, which surrounds the Mother Cathedral of Holy Etchmiadzin, and which has been devastated by logging for fuel.

March 30 2010:Nuns provide clean water for hundreds after the Chilean earthquake
Several years ago the Sisters of La Retraite in Concepcion, Chile, made an ecologically sound decision to source the water for their vegetable garden from a spring deep below their land.
That eco-thinking has paid off as the tiny community shared clean water with 100s of people after the earthquake of February 27.

There are moments in every faith tradition, where nature speaks. This dance celebrates the moment, in the oldest Hindu text, Rig Veda, when the universe comes into being. It was performed at Windsor Castle in November 2009 by Anusha Subramanyan, as part of a series of performances celebrating the launch of more than 30 plans by nine different religious communities and leaders to protect Creation.

March 25, 2010:ARC is joining Earth Hour on March 27th
"Earth Hour" this year is 20.30 local time on March 27th. Many faith communities are participating. Some by holding services by candlelight, taking the opportunity both to remember and remind of the importance of valuing the gift of energy.

March 11, 2010:Far-reaching new eco-pledges by African faith leaders
A large number of wonderfully positive pledges by faith leaders to protect nature have emerged this week from the British Council's far-sighted Abuja conference in Abuja about religions and the environment in Africa.

18 February, 2010:African leaders pledge eco action
Muslim and Christian religious leaders from all over Africa met this month in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, to talk about the environment and how they can adapt to climate change.

February 16, 2010:Eco-fasting for Lent
Rather than the usual attempts to give up personal vices such as alcohol or cigarettes, this Lent many groups are promoting eco-fasting, which can benefit both the environment and some of the most disadvantaged people in our world.

February 12, 2009:Happy Year of the Tiger
As Chinese, Mongolians, Tibetans and others all celebrate their New Year of the Tiger this weekend, faith leaders from all over Northern Asia are thinking about how they can work with the idea of the Tiger Year to promote the protection of tigers and other endangered species.

February 11, 2010:MACCA holds its first conference in Indonesia in April
The First International Muslim Conference on Climate Change will held in the Indonesian city of Bogor, in West Java, in April this year. Around 150 people from 30 Muslim countries will attend, including scientists, ulama (religious leaders) and green activists.

1 Feb, 2010:Commitments by secular organisations to work with the faiths
At Windsor in November 2009, 18 secular organisations from around the world made commitments to partner with the faiths. This is the first time that so many environmental organisations have publicly committed themselves to take partnering with the faiths seriously.

January 26, 2010:ARC welcomes the Pope's powerful eco-statements
ARC welcomes Pope Benedict XVI’s recent, very powerful, statements on the need for urgent action to protect the environment and on religion's crucial role in doing so. Both statements reinforce the importance of ARC/UNDP’s work with the major faiths of the world.

January 26, 2010:BBC asks why so many green campaigners rely on religious language
If the case for tackling climate change is backed by science, why do so many green campaigners rely on the language of religion? That was the question asked by the BBC in a programme that included ARC’s Director, Martin Palmer as well as some of the UK’s leading climate thinkers.

January 22, 2010:Launch of 'Faith Climate Connect' - A global network
A new global coalition of faith groups concerned about climate change and the environment was launched on 14 January. Faith Climate Connect is a free global resource and network, bringing together an interactive forum of videos, faith/climate news, and much, much more...

January 14, 2010:Copenhagen failure down to 'self-centred' thinking - Pope
Pope Benedict has denounced the failure of world leaders to agree on a new climate change treaty at Copenhagen, saying the same "self-centred and materialistic" way of thinking behind the worldwide financial meltdown was also endangering creation.

January 5, 2010:The Pope: we must protect creation
The Pope has issued his most direct call to action over the environment. In his his most outspoken ecological statement to date, Benedict XVI said: “We cannot remain indifferent to what is happening around us, for the deterioration of any one part of the planet affects us all.”

22 December, 2009:An Orthodox message for the planet
The Orthodox Christian story of the nativity, set in a cave, unlike the Western version which was set in a stable, has much to tell us about the importance of nature. According to the former, God cannot become human without the participation of nature, and this has implications today as our planet faces climate change: whilst it may at times seem like the earth needs a miracle to save it - what essential role can we play in bringing this miracle about? Original Source: Guardian Online

December 10, 2009:The Story of a Box
In November a wooden box containing a block of stone was passed, with great ceremony, from ARC to the UN, having been returned by the Druze in May. In December it was blessed by a revered Sri Lankan Buddhist. Thus continued an extraordinary ecologically-inspired journey.

This inspiring 10-minute film shows the beauty and wonder of the earth – and the terrifying consequences of our destruction of the natural environment. It offers a compelling argument for why religions and scientists could provide a powerful united force in protecting the living planet.

December 8, 2009:Faith leaders in Copenhagen
The world's faith leaders are in Copenhagen for the historic United Nations Climate change Conference - and Mark Dowd, of UK-based Operation Noah, is there to record their thoughts for the "Faith at the Summit" programme produced by Odyssey Networks, the US's largest coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to promoting peace and social justice. Click here for his first report on the spiritual crisis underlying climate change.

December 2, 2009:Copenhagen: ARC Statement of Faith
Governments gather in Copenhagen this month to negotiate a new climate treaty to protect the living planet. On behalf of the world's major faiths, which presented their own long-term action plans on the environment at the Windsor Celebration last month, ARC invites the governments to join the faiths on the journey towards a more sustainable and just future.

November 30, 2009:US State Department recognises importance of faiths before Copenhagen
On the day that President Obama announced that he was going to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen, running from December 7-18, ARC was contacted by the US State Department, which is committed to working with the religions on this issue, as one of the most powerful elements of civil society working on protecting the natural environment.

November 26, 2009:New commitments from Windsor
As well as the 30 plus long-term plans formally launched at Windsor by nine of the world’s major faiths – Baha’ism, Buddhism, Christianity, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Sikhism – dozens of further proposals or partnerships were developed during the event.

November 5, 2009:Windsor Celebration 2009
The Windsor Celebration of Faiths and the Environment has been "a huge success", says ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer. As well as marking the launch of hugely impressive long-term plans on the environment by nine of the world's major faiths, the event saw leading secular groups pledge their commitment to work with the religions and the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledge the faiths' vital role in discussions on the planet. Visit our dedicated Windsor website www.windsor2009.org.

November 2, 2009:Madinah in Saudi Arabia to become Islamic eco city: Windsor announcement
One of Islam’s most important cities, Madinah, is to
become a model ‘green’ city under a Muslim Seven Year action plan on the environment,
unveiled yesterday by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Goma’a. Madinah is the
second holiest city in the Islamic world, after Makkah and is also known as “the City of
the Prophet”.

October 14, 2009:PRESS RELEASE: Many Heavens, One Earth:
The Celebration of Faith Commitments for a Living Planet, to be held at Windsor on November 2-4, 2009, will be attended by His Royal Highness, The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, His Excellency Mr Ban Ki-moon

Last updated: September 24, 2009 :Latest news on the Long Term Commitments
A sample of some of the faith groups around the world that are creating Five, Seven, Eight and Nine Year Plans to protect the natural environment, through the UNDP-ARC framework.

September 13, 2009 :Martin Palmer explains why faiths can shape future generations
In a Radio 4 Sunday Programme interview, Martin Palmer describes the power faiths have in shaping future generations - and why the major faiths will be celebrating long term commitments to the natural world at Windsor in November with ARC and the UN.

8 September, 2009:Faith in Water workshops leads to new network, partnerships, actions, ideas
This first Faith in Water conference resulted in an astonishing array of new and possible partnerships, including the UN family (UNDP, UNICEF, UN-HABITAT) inviting faiths to become official partners on these issues, and the World Bank suggesting the faiths become partners in particular in the Bank’s annual Water Week.

August 27 2009:Audio versions of the Faith in Water workshop
Award winning podcast maker and broadcaster Mary Colwell has created two fascinating enhanced audio segments about the important role that faiths can play in addressing the water crisis... recording the thoughts of people who attended the Alliance of Religions and Conservation conference on faith, water and development in July 2009 in Salisbury, UK.

August 21, 2009:Quakers pledge action on climate change
Quakers in the UK, who are preparing their own Seven Year Plans to protect the living planet, are taking key steps, through advocacy, promoting simple living, and working with ARC to host a major public meeting in London in November

August 19 2009:UN prepares for September climate summit
The United Nations is building on its commitment to work with religions on climate change and the natural environment, through working to add a religious dimension to a key summit in New York in September.

August 9, 2009:Muslim Schools Lead Islamic Green Movement in Java
In 1995 the area around a new Muslim boarding school in West Java was so humid that the founders feared the students wouldn’t be able to concentrate. Today it is cool and fresh: thanks to the 700 trees that the students have planted and tended, according to Islamic and pragmatic wisdom. It is an extraordinary and story. And ARC was one of its inspirations.

July 13, 2009:New Sins, New Virtues - The Economist analyses the Religions Approach to Climate Change
"From the bishop of London to the Dalai Lama, lots of prominent religious figures have been feeling the need to broaden their message, talking more about the fate of humanity as a whole." The Economist examines the impact of the Papal Encyclical, the Muslim 7 Year Plan and other global movements for change, and refers to the key event organised by ARC in November at Windsor.

July 8, 2009:Historic Istanbul Declaration of the Muslim 7 Year Action Plan on Climate Change
Some 200 key Muslim leaders, scholars, civil society members and government ministries from Islamic civil society, made the unprecedented step yesterday of joining together to endorse a long term plan for action on climate change. ARC was a co-organiser with NGO EMDC of the key Istanbul conference where this happened. UNDP was co-sponsor.

July 8, 2009:UN celebrates Muslim Seven Year EcoPlan
Assistant Secretary General of UNDP acknowledges the critical importance of the Muslim 7 Year Plan for the environment, endorsed this week by 200 key international Islamic leaders

July 4, 2009:Greener habits for up to 24 million Sikhs
Sikh religious leaders representing thousands of gurdwaras met in New Delhi to adopt a five year greening plan which includes a long-term commitment to green their gurdwaras (temples) in terms of energy use, the types of building materials used and their means of transportation, as well as incorporating environmental education into Sikh school curricula. The movement is to be called ‘EcoSikh.’

June 26, 2009:Details announced of Muslim 7YP meeting in Istanbul
The forthcoming Conference for the Muslim 7 Year Plan Declaration will take place in Istanbul on 6 and 7 July 2009. It is hoped key scholars from across the spectrum of the Islamic faith will endorse the plan and declare it to be the Muslim 7 Year Action Plan to respond to climate change.

Updated July 3, 2009:Faith in Water Workshop: 5-7 July 2009
Linking faith with water facilities and school toilets does not sound like an obvious step, yet it is important. Water is central to many religions: as the source of life, it often represents birth and rebirth. In July ARC hosts the first ever Faith in Water conference, at Sarum College in Salisbury.

June 8, 2009:Druze dedicate Lebanon's fragile Jisr el Qadi region as a Sacred Gift
The journey to create the most recent Sacred Gift started in 2003 when ARC met some of the key Druze decision-makers within the Shouf Valley. Sheikh Sami attended ARC meetings in Turkey and Sweden to discuss investments and forestry, “and when I returned from Sweden I was convinced it was time for the Druze to create a sacred gift.”

June 3, 2009:It’s Heating Up: The Planet’s Largest Civil Society Movement for Change
"During a recent visit to China, I participated in what will surely be one of the most memorable moments of my career: Daoist masters gathered to agree on a 7 year plan for climate change action. The overall strength and sustainability of religions was immediately apparent to me. " The Assistant SG of UNDP writes a persuasive argument for religions to be involved in environment negotiations

May 1, 2009:Board of Deputies of British Jews publishes new Fairtrade brochure
"Tzedakah", Hebrew for charity, is central to Jewish values and prayers. The root is "Tzedek", meaning "Justice" and the Torah teaches "Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof" - Justice, Justice, Shall you Pursue." A guide to Fair Trade by the Board of Deputies of British Jews which outlines theological and moral reasons for buying Fair Trade goods - full of analysis, background and human stories.

April 17 2009:Reviews of new books about Faith and the Environment
There we were, at ARC Head Office, thinking that it would be a wonderful idea to compile a book full of stories from some of the faith leaders who have been working with the environment for many years… and now two have come along at once...

April 16 , 2009:US Catholics launch Carbon Footprint Challenge
Many Catholic communities throughout the US are responding to the Pope's interest in caring for Creation - and to their own sense of wanting to look after the natural environment. The Who's Under Your Carbon Footprint? launched this week to encourage Catholics around the world to take the St Francis Pledge

April 14, 2009:Key meeting in Jerusalem to create Jewish Seven Year Plan
A "Seven Year Plan for the Jewish People on Climate Change and Sustainability" has been drafted, and its discussion sessions launched with a key meeting in Jerusalem last week, attended by some 55 experts: rabbis, scientists, businesspeople, environmentalists, policy makers and educators.

March 30, 2009:17th Karmapa holds Buddhist Environment Conference
HH Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje, who has shown a passion for environmental protection since he was a young teenager, hosted the first ever Conference on Environmental Protection for Kagyu Monasteries and Centres last week. The move could lead to increased environmental awareness throughout the Himalayas.

February 26 2009:ARC's Mongolian Buddhist handbook launched to acclaim in UB
When the World Bank NEMO fund in Mongolia asked ARC to create a handbook to working with Buddhists on the Environment, none of us expected that we would not only uncover extraordinary stories but also help create new, important, devotional materials.

February 8, 2009:Jewish Birthday of the Trees is the First Birthday for a leading sustainable synagogue
This year, the Jewish celebration of "Tu B'Shvat," the “re-birthday of the trees” falls from the evening of Sunday February 8 to Monday February 9.
In Illinois, one leading reconstructionist congregation will be celebrating both the re-birthday of the trees, and the first birthday of the sustainable re-construction of their own synagogue.

January 5, 2009:Catholic project helped by ARC wins award for podcast
Clifton Diocese took silver at the Christian Broadcasting Council Awards with ‘Journey - The Sound of Many Waters Podcast’ - a reflection on the diocese's year of acting and thinking ecologically, which was conceived and planned with ARC's help.

December 18, 2008:Muslim Seven Year Plan Emerges
Representatives from Islamic NGOs, academics, government figures and Muslim environmental activists held a meeting in Kuwait to focuss on the Muslim Seven Year Plan. Islamic states and Muslim communities from all over the world will be invovled in creating a Muslim plan for generational change.

December 12, 2008 :Catholic Eco Schools Newsletter No.7
Stories for December include: What Can A Million Kids Do?, Advent and the Twelve C's of Christmas and how a village primary school in Scotland is helping create power for their Christmas lights.

December 2 2008:Uppsala Manifesto promises faith action on climate issues
A manifesto signed at an interfaith climate summit in Uppsala Sweden last week calls on political leaders to reach agreement during the preparations of the new global Climate Protocol 2009 - to create a strategy that is sufficiently responsible and ambitious.

December 1 2008:Christians urged to "Reclaim Christmas"
Christians are putting "the waiting back into waiting" during the traditional Advent period of December this year. With the motto: “Shop less, live more, save the earth” the team at Operation Noah is encouraging people to see Advent as a period of "quiet reflection while the Church of England has launched Why Are We Waiting? campaign, complete with quiz
to urge Anglicans to Pray Now, Buy Later.

November 11, 2008 :MUSLIMS discuss an Islamic SEVEN YEAR PLAN
Representatives from Islamic NGOs, academics, government figures and Muslim environmental activists held a meeting in Kuwait to focuss on the Muslim Seven Year Plan. Islamic states and Muslim communities from all over the world will be invovled in creating a Muslim plan for generational change.

November 10, 2008 :Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter No.6
Highlights of the sixth edition of the Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter include an octopus garden at St Teresa's and Operation Noah's Campaign for Christians to Reclaim Christmas.

November 5 2008:Daoism—the way forward on climate change? By Olav Kjorven, Deputy head of UNDP
Last week something unprecedented happened in China. It may not have been as glitzy spectacular as the Olympics in Beijing over the summer. It did not attract heads of state or world celebrities. But could it possibly leave a more lasting imprint on the future of China and indeed the world? The Assistant Secretary General of UNDP, Olav Kjorven, gives his take on the latest ARC initiative

14 October 2008:Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter No.5
The latest eco newsletter for Catholic Schools and Colleges includes a reminder about International Walk to School Month, the Sound of Many Waters initiative and a new museum dedicated to nature. And available to download here is ARC's leaflet on Ecology and Catholic Schools.

October 3 2008:The Pope Urges Tourists to Think Green - and installs solar panels at the Vatican
Last Saturday the Pope returned to the theme of respect for God's creation in an address marking the UN's World Tourism day. And two days later workers started installing 2,700 solar panels on the roof of the Vatican's Paul VI auditorium, which will save the equivalent of 35 tonnes of oil every week during the cold season.

1 September, 2008:Church of England's Guide Aims to Reduce Carbon Footprint
To mark the beginning of the six week Christian Creationtide festival of environmental awareness, the Church of England has published a new guide entitled "Don't Stop at the Lights". Creationtide continues until October 4.

August 28, 2008:Church of South India - eight actions to combat climate change
The Church of South India has issued a practical statement on its planned approach to climate change, including hedges made of bamboo and vetiver around school and church buildings, and encouraging digging mud pits to renew water reserves.

21 August 2008:India's Temples Go Green - a story about faith and carbon points
The Tirumala temple, in the south Indian city of Tirupathi, is one of Hinduism's holiest shrines. Over 5,000 pilgrims a day visit this city of seven hills, filling Tirumala's coffers with donations and making it India's richest temple. But as Time Magazine reports, since 2002 Tirumala has also been generating revenue from a less likely source: carbon credits.

July 11 2008:UN/ARC Seven Year Plan for Generational Change
After a year of discussions, consultations and drafts, ARC is proud to announce the launch, with the UNDP, of the Guide to Creating Seven Year Plans. The purpose is to help faith communities to move into a new stage of environmental action, reflection and thought. Many have already done audits and have looked into traditional practices for eco-friendly ways of living. This is the next level of engagement.

24 June 2008 :Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter No.4
How one school celebrated earthday with a full timetable "crash" with every lesson dedicated to the earth, including prayer flags, natural dyes, stream cleanup, willow art. The pupils wanted it to be "Earth Day Every Day."

June 19 2008:Buddhists commit to the environment on UN Vesak Day
A meeting in Hanoi of 600 Buddhist leaders from 90 countries last month emphasised the importance of caring for the natural environment in a major new declaration about Buddhist's role in building a “just, democratic, and civil society”.

June 11 2008:Cambodian monks make eco-Buddhism video available to all
ARC's sister organisation ABE in Cambodia has just issued its promotional film on Youtube. Not only is it a good way to see some of the wonderful projects Cambodian Buddhists have been involved with, but it also embodies ABE's mission to use new technology to preserve old ways of caring for nature.

May 20 2008:For the first time, a practical Muslim Theology of the Sea
The first Theology of the Sea for Muslims has now been published. Initially compiled to promote conservation among Muslim fishing families in Tanzania threatening the fragile coral environment through their dynamite fishing, most of the theology and teachings are appropriate and useful for any marine conservation programme in Islamic areas.The authors - from IFEES - have waived their copyrights, and this material is available for all.

12 May 2008:Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter No.3
The third Eco Schools Newsletter contains inspirational articles on spreading an awareness of faith and the environment, and includes a "Meet a Tree" activity.

ARC's secretary general Martin Palmer is also on the panel for a debate at Bath Abbey tonight, titled: 'CLIMATE CHANGE: What is happening? What can we do? Can Bath become an eco city?'

April 22, 2008 :The 27th Earth Day includes more religious initiatives than ever
Today, Tuesday 22nd April is the 28th annual "Earth Day" in the US. Although there are many such days in the year – as well as the UN’s June 5, many faiths celebrate their own days of creation - some of the material might be useful for the faiths

April 14 2008:Southern Baptists Convention challenged on global warming - by its own youth
A small but powerful group within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in the United States has challenged the denomination's official stance on global warming, stating that: "when we destroy God's creation, it's similar to ripping pages from the Bible." The interest in the story by the world's media indicates that religion and environment is now a mainstream issue.

April 9 2008:Listen to dawn again: the sound of many waters and many birds
The BBC listened to and broadcast the sounds of dawn in the Bishop of Clifton Cathedral's garden in Bristol, England this week, as part of a Catholic year of paying attention to, and caring for nature. If you missed dawn on Sunday, then listen to it here: it is inspiring.

March 28 2008:Switch off your lights for Earth Hour tomorrow night
A year ago, in Sydney, WWF and other activists invited people to switch off their lights and appliances for one hour. More than two thousand businesses and 2.2 million people did exactly that – to demonstrate their support for global action against climate change. Their effort reduced the city's energy consumption by more than 10.2% during that hour – equivalent, astonishingly, to taking 48,000 cars off the road for a year.

March 24, 2008:Mexican Huichol protest road passing through their sacred land
For the past two weeks 700 people in the Sierra Madre Occidental region of Central Mexico have sat patiently night and day in the dusty lay-by of a half-begun highway to protest the scheduled destruction of many kilometres of a sacred and ecologically fragile pilgrimage route.

10 March 2008:ARC launches Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter
ARC has launched a newsletter to bring Catholic schools together to talk about what they are doing to help the natural environment. The first newsletter was issued in February.

26 February 2008:Catholic Schools Eco Newsletter No.1
"This newsletter has come about because so many of you asked for a way of communicating your experiences, reflections, problems and triumphs as your schools and colleges become more environmentally conscious and active."

February 5 2008:Innovative faith and forest programme starts in Lebanon
An ancient proverb states that: “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago…. The second best time is TODAY”. With this in mind, ARC’s long-term partner in Lebanon, is starting an innovative ten-year faith and conservation programme to help plant trees and new ideas about careful management of religious resources.

December 18 2007:Successful event on religions and climate change at Bali COP
“Even if the end of the world comes today, if you have a seed in your hand, then plant it, before you do anything else.” With this strong environmental statement by the Prophet Muhammad, there began a groundbreaking side event on religions and climate change at the Bali COP conference last week – attended by the President of Indonesia, and advised by ARC.

December 10, 2007:A sweet world and verdant green: faith quotes for Bali
This week representatives of the world's governments meet in Bali to discuss the post-Kyoto Protocol. To aid them in their deliberations, ARC has put together a booklet of quotations from the four main faiths represented in Indonesia

December 6, 2007:THEY MUST HAVE FAITH: poem about faiths & forests conference
"They have come here to help their trees,/Who could not attend the meeting./
The forests may provide material for conference tables/ But they never get to sit around them...
They must have faith." An incisive poem by Swedish artist Bosse Carlgren about the Faith and Forests meeting in Gotland.

November 23 2007:Leading Huichol expert John C Lilly dies
ARC is sorry to announce the death last week of the American ethno-cinematographer John C Lilly Jr. - a great supporter of, and authority on, the culture of the Huichol people of Central Mexico.

November 20 2007:World's first “green Bible” is published in the USA
This month a “green Bible” was launched in the USA by leading publisher Thomas Nelson.It is the first Bible intended for wide-scale distribution to have been printed on recycled and FSC-certified paper.

November 5 2007:ARC's work in The Economist and on BBC World Service
ARC and our partners featured in an Economist article on faith leaders and ecologists combining to protect the Strait between India and Sri Lanka. This is one of two articles in The Economist in the past month featuring our work. Our Faith and Forestry initiative also featured in two BBC World Service programmes this weekend.

October 29, 2007:Sierra Club director pledges for first time to work with religions
The head of the influential Sierra Club made a commitment last month to working with religions."I was part of the generation that made the choice – the horrendous strategic blunder – of situating ourselves outside the institutions of faith," said Carl Pope. “Now we have a chance to repent of, and reform from, that error."

September 28 2007:Catholic
Bishop Chris Toohey, world leader in Catholic environmental action on the environment, will launch The Sound of Many Waters year of action at Clifton Cathedral in Bristol tomorrow, Saturday.

September 24, 2007:Ancient Yews celebrated in new book
Three ancient yews in a Northumberland churchyard, one of which is said to have protected St Cuthbert when he preached underneath it in the seventh century, have inspired a new book of writing and poetry written by the visually impaired.

September 21 2007:Bishops go to Parliament to urge care for the Earth
“People in so-called ‘developed’ countries have missed the plot on the long-term future,” Bishop Chris Toohey of Catholic Earthcare Australia told more than 50 representatives of Christian organisations and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference. His UK visit culminates in the launch of the Sound of Many Waters year of Catholic action assisted by ARC and starting on 29 September at Clifton Cathedral. All welcome.

September 17 2007:World Water Week recognises religions can make splash
“Don’t underestimate the ability of religions to mobilise and motivate authorities and social assets to get things done,” one participant at the World Water Week event in Stockholm told the gathering.

September 6 2007:Druze publish a theology of the forest
For the first time ever, the Druze of Lebanon have announced their theology of the forest. Sheikh Sami Abilmona, the Secretary General of the Druze IFRAN schools in Lebanon, presented a statement on the Druze and the Environment at the Visby Faith and Forestry Gathering, organised by ARC in August 2007.

September 3 2007:Church of Sweden Pledges to Protect Ancient Meadows
The Church of Sweden pledged Wednesday to protect its ancient meadows of Gotland, treasure houses of rare flowers and calm green oases among commercial forests. It is part of the Faiths and Forests initiative that ARC is assisting.

August 21 2007:Faiths protect Forests: English press release
An unlikely alliance between Shinto priests in Japan and the Lutheran Church of Sweden has led to a meeting next week that will lead to millions of hectares of forests around the world being managed according to ecological principles.

August 20, 2007:Cow dung to cooking gas: an Ethiopian nunnery converts
Work has begun on an ARC-funded project to build a bio-digester at Sebata nunnery outside Addis Ababa. The methane produced from waste organic material will fuel all meals for more than 1200 children and nuns.

August 6 2007:Faith in nature: young people, religions and the great outdoors
"An activities teacher once came to my school and asked: What do the religions all have in common. We came up with various answers: belief in a divine being, places to pray... "Yes to almost all," he said. "But there's something else: camping." ARC celebrates the centenary of Scouting with an article in UNEP's Tunza magazine about the faiths' relationship with the outdoors.

July 30, 2007:PNG pastors clear rubbish where others have failed
An initiative by an evangelical Christian group in a remote area of Papua New Guinea has led to a “transformation” of their township through community rubbish collection and is a natural continuation of awareness-raising activities throughout the area, supported by ARC since 2003.

July 27 2007:Making Muslim Brum Beautiful
Young Muslims in Birmingham, UK are joining together this summer on a “people action” to make their city greener. The “clean medina campaign” includes rappers, film crews, coffee, music, jingles, and a lot of brushes and dustbin bags.

June 26 2007:Major stakeholders to attend Visby meeting
Representatives from Lutherans, Russian Orthodox, Romanian Orthodox, Catholic, Maronite, Shinto, Druze, Buddhist and other religious-owned forests, as well as WWF, CI, the UN, the World Bank will attend the Visby discussions on faith and forests in August. A list of FAQs about the meeting is now available online.

June 11 2007:Photographs of the opening of the Daoist Ecology Temple
At the foot of the great pilgrimage trail of Tai Bai mountain there is a tree, said to be 3,000 years old. The Chinese call it the "armour" tree because its wood is as tough as metal, and the Daoist pilgrims drape it with lucky red banners, for good luck and wise thoughts, before they make their journey...

May 31 2007:Archbishop Tutu leads Environment Day prayers at Arctic Cathedral
For some Christians, World Environment Day this year will start two days early – with a special service held on Sunday at the Arctic Cathedral in Tromso, Norway, led by South Africa’s former Archbishop Desmond Tutu. World Environment Day is Tuesday June 5.

May 14 2007:Whales, turtles and timber: news from Indonesia
It is saving whales in Nusa Tenggara Province, it has protected rare turtles on Bali Island, and it is encouraging the use of sustainable timber in Aceh Province… The “religions approach” is being applied to conservation projects all over Indonesia, and it seems that in many places we are beginning to see successes.

April 27 2007:The Guardian cites ARC in story on religions and environment
The Guardian today published a feature on the Vatican conference on climate change highlighting how the Vatican has added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches that abuse of the environment is against God's will, and that the Catholic church must become greener.

April 27 2007:ARC urges action at the International Dao De Jing Forum
More than 500 delegates attended China's first ever major Daoist forum this week - including leading priests and scholars, and the Chinese Minister for Religions. The programme included a strand that explored Daoism's role in nature, and ARC was invited to present one of the key speeches.

April 21 2007:ARC's consultants edit new ATLAS OF RELIGION
Did you know that each year around 125 million New Testaments are printed, making them the world's best-selling books? Or that since 1974, over 300 Islamic Banks have been created, handling $250 billion in assets? Or that Christian giving in 2005 was £297 billion? Or that all these facts and more can be found in the new Atlas of Religion?

April 20 2007:Untimely death of our colleague, Tony Poulter
All of us at ARC would like to announce our sadness at the sudden death of Tony Poulter, at the age of just 49. He had been one of the guiding forces behind the Eco-Coffins project in South Africa, run by the Working for Water Project. He was one of the first people to make use of an eco-coffin: an irony that he would have appreciated.

April 11 2007:Independent highlights ARC's work in Easter edition
The UK's Independent on Sunday this weekend featured ARC’s work with sacred sites in a piece entitled “Save our holy lands”. It showed how thousands of sacred places are to be linked together in a bid to preserve the world's disappearing wild species.

2 April 2007:Churches begin to go green for Palm Sunday
It is a multi-million dollar business, it is threatening the world’s forests and rare bird populations, it stems from a procession of peace… it is Palm Sunday, and churches around the world - with the support of ARC, CI and other NGOs - are beginning to do something about it.

February 26, 2007:Climate Change documentary wins two Oscars
For some in America it might be a most Inconvenient Oscar, but last night former US vice president Al Gore picked up an Academy Award for his shocking documentary on Climate Change, with another award picked up for the film’s original theme song.

February 12 2007:God is Green and the Religions are too
Tonight Channel 4 is broadcasting a programme in the UK called "God Is Green”, presented by former Catholic seminarian Mark Dowd, who criticises religions for not doing enough to reduce climate change. While we welcome the debate, we at ARC really believe that religions are greening their act.

February 9 2007:CI works with Colombian Catholics to save parrot from extinction
Five years ago, Conservation International and its partners forged a partnership with the Roman Catholic church in Colombia to save the yellow-eared parrot and the tall wax palm from almost guaranteed extinction. Today, the alliance is lauded as one of the most successful biodiversity conservation campaigns in Latin America - and the parrots and wax palms are multiplying

February 5 2007:ARC features in UNEP's Tunza Magazine
The United Nations Environment Programme this month featured an article on ARC’s flagship programme with the Daoists in China – rebuilding a ruined temple in Shaanxi Province as both a temple and a centre for environmental education.

February 1 2007:The Big Green Jewish Website
A wonderful new environmental resource was launched today in the form of The Big Green Jewish Website, created by the Noah project and the Jewish Board of Deputies with ARC's help. "It's the first environmental website I've seen which starts with a good joke."

Faiths and Finance
Faiths and faith communities can use, and are using, the power of their financial investments positively, to help protect the Earth.

January 15 2007:Benedictines listen to the Earth
Benedictine sisters of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania have published an eco-handbook for Benedictine communities in Latin America. "More than ever, the earth is calling to us. Are we listening?"

January 5, 2007:Powerful vision statement for AMEN
AMEN has now published its mission statement, including a powerfully stated vision of: “African Muslims helping African Muslims helping the earth.”

October 20 2006:New bid to protect full 400km Mexican pilgrim route
The Huichol Indians have started talks with the Mexican government to protect the length of their 400K pilgrimage route, including forests and wetlands: places where shamans have performed ceremonies for centuries.

October 19 2006:The Religion Approach works for Turtles in Indonesia
Leading Balinese environmentalist yesterday received a major international award for his work with local Hindu leaders to protect tens of thousands of rare turtles killed for ceremonies every year. Today Balinese finding turtles on the beach make a ceremony for them, and return them to the sea.

September 25 2006:With Deep Sadness
It is with deep sadness that we announce that Jill Bowling, trustee for ARC, head of conservation for WWF-UK and friend to many of us here, died on Saturday, in a helicopter crash in Nepal where all 24 passengers and crew were killed.

September 22 2006:Mongolians clean up sacred hillside
Ulan Baatar has its first "clean-up" day with monks and students removing hundreds of plastic bags, bottles and other debris from one of the city's most sacred sites.

August 22, 2006:Daoists pledge to protect sacred landscapes
Last month Daoist monks and nuns representing ten major temples in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces declared formally that they would protect the environment around their sacred lands and buildings.

August 8 2006:Al Gore tells An Inconvenient Truth
It has been called "the scariest movie of the summer"... The former vice president of the US shares a starring role with the global warming issue in a controversial new eco-documentary. An Inconvenient Truth comes out in September, after a succesful preview at Sundance.

UPDATED August 9 2006:AFDC helps refugees in Lebanon
ARC’s partner in Lebanon is marshalling its forest teams and protecting refugees from the Israel-Hizbollah conflict. Meanwhile the environmental devastation becomes clearer. Find out how to help.

July 22 2006:Prince Andrew visits Mongolian eco-ger
During his visit to Mongolia last week, Prince Andrew visited a model "eco-ger" in Ulaan Baator - part of ARC's extensive environmental projects with Buddhists in Mongolia, sponsored by the World Bank and the Dutch Government.

July 1, 2006:ARC joins Sacred Orchid Project in Mexico
ARC has begun work with Mexican environmental charity Pro Natura, on a project to conserve rare and endangered plant-species, particularly those used in religious ceremonies.

June 14 2006:Faiths and Forests
In terms of forestry protection, the faiths might be said to have the Four P's. Production; purchasing; preservation; persuasion. ARC gives presentation at major forest conference in Portland, Oregon.

May 11 2006:BBC works with ARC for special climate change Songs of Praise
As part of the BBC’s groundbreaking “Climate Chaos” season this month, Songs of Praise is broadcasting a special programme on May 28 to explore the Christian contribution to the environment debate. It includes an interview with ARC’s Martin Palmer about how caring for nature is integral to Christian thinking.

Presented on April 15 2006:ARC's speech at First World Buddhist Conference: in English
"There are many illusions. There is the illusion that we can exploit this fragile world and not pay the cost; there is the illusion that material property is the only worthwhile goal; there is the illusion that human communities can exist without regard to the animals, plants, rocks, and rivers which live beside them."

March 21, 2006:Prince Charles visits Sacred Gift project in Egypt
The Prince of Wales began his five-day visit to Egypt yesterday with a visit to the Al-Azhar Park in Cairo, built on the site of a 500-year-old rubbish tips and one of the Sacred Gifts presented at the WWF/ARC Kathmandu meeting in 2000.

March 17 2006:Mexican faith leaders back the carbon trading initiative
The Inter-Religious Council of Mexico this month announced that a coalition of religious leaders would work together to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions of their houses of worship and to “offset” its impact by investing in clean energy and forestry projects.

March 2, 2006:World Council of Churches holds Ninth Assembly
Last month the World Council of Churches (WCC) introduced several exciting new events to its General Assembly to underline the increasing concern for ecology being expressed by Christians around the world.

February 6, 2006:ARC invites the faiths to conduct their own energy audits
Can you make more efficient use of your place of worship? Have you insulated the roof? Do you switch off the lights? Use long-life bulbs? ARC invites all faiths to fill in a questionnaire and find out how to make their footprints lighter.

December 21 2005:Thousands respond to ARC campaign against toxins
Thousands of faith representatives all over Europe sent letters to MEPs last month about their concerns that the REACH legislation – requiring testing of all chemicals – should be passed in the European Parliament. Now the campaign needs even more support.

November 1, 2005:Churches around Europe gear up to counter toxins
A deeply moving service was held today at St James's Church, Picadilly in London to launch the official ARC liturgy designed for use across Europe in preparation for the REACH legislation debate at the end of this month.

October 13 2005:ARC launches liturgy to combat toxins
Churches launch a liturgy in support of REACH anti-toxins legislation, acknowledging the toxic forces let loose in the world and the powers of good that can overcome them.

Ethiopia, September 30, 2005:Ethiopian Church Launches Organic Farming Programme
A new organic farming training programme run by the Orthodox Church in central Ethiopia is introducing farmers, clergy and community leaders to alternative and improved methods of caring for the earth

September 13, 2005:ARC offers ideas for the Harvest Festival
Our increase in harvest is often the result of eliminating wildlife, and of subsidising surpluses. ARC offers a liturgy that recognises this but still finds space for celebration.

July 2 2005:Northern Buddhists agree 12 major environmental initiatives
The Northern Buddhist Conference on Ecology and Development agrees major initiatives including starting traditions to plant a tree for everyone who dies, founding an organisation to help Russian and Mongolian Buddhist monks protect nature, to offers to fund Chairs of Buddhist Ecology in every Asian Buddhist University.

Ulan Baator: June 20 2005:Northern Buddhists launch new ecological network
As the sound of chanting spread across a room full of several hundred Buddhist monks in Ulan Baator this morning, the newly elected President of Mongolia launched a unique event.

Lambeth 2005:The story of the Benedictines and ARC
ARC works with monasteries from Brazil to Zambia, on projects ranging through river restoration to organic agriculture and the cultivation of medicinal plants.

Dr Jill Bowling of WWF at Lambeth, 2005:ARC and WWF - the next 10 years
Dr Jill Bowling spoke at Lambeth for ARC's 10th anniversary in 2005. She said how in its first 10 years ARC had become a powerful group with powerful ideas. "Now in the next 10 years let’s broaden out; let’s develop new policies to reduce the footprint of all of us on the planet.

February 21, 2005:Formation of new Africa Muslim Environment Network
An ARC gathering of Muslim leaders in Kenya earlier this month is expected to lead to Islamic micro-financing projects; revival of traditional fishing practices and a new African Muslim Environment Network.

February 9 2005:From Princes to Paupers: the Story of ARC.
Prince Philip describes ARC as "the charity that doesn’t exist". ARC’s secretary general wants it to be disbanded within 10 years. SIMON PARKIN explores the paradoxes that make up one of Britain’s most enigmatic and unrecognised charities.

Catholic Times: January 12 2005:A monk sets a fine example in poor Zambia
The Catholic Times runs a story about Fr Willibrord Nzota, in London for an ARC conference, who talks about the Benedictines' work in a remote part of Zambia.

December 25, 2004:Queen's Christmas speech features ARC
"The idea that the churches and the AID agencies might talk together a bit more and get together a bit more is a very good idea." HM The Queen. African Christian Leaders Gathering November 2004, quoted in the Queen's Christmas Broadcast.

Martin Palmer: November 19 2004:Africa's well-kept secret revealed
The secret is this. That the welfare, education, development and environmental well-being of Africa is largely reliant upon the Churches and Mosques of Africa.

Martin Palmer: November 23 2004:BBC Radio 4: Thought for the Day on Africa
In the week when the twentieth anniversary of Band Aid is being celebrated and the new recording of "Do they know its Christmas" is out, there is some good news from Africa.

October 18 2004:Six new grants for ARC
ARC has secured major new funding from several sources, ensuring not only that it will be able to continue its projects with faiths around the world, but that it can now initiate major new programmes.

June 24, 2004:3iG to be launched in April 2005
The International Interfaith Investment Group will bring together world faiths and financial bodies to invest in socially and environmentally responsible investment

Our Planet Magazine: May 27 2004:Ecumenical Patriarch writes about the seas
His All Holiness Bartholomew of Constantinople says that water is the binding force between heaven and earth and that pollution of the sea represents paradise lost

February 11, 2004:Looking for Mongolia's lost temples
In a dramatic sign of the recovery of religious identity in Mongolia, a team is seeking to identify the remains of temples that were lost under communist rule.

Tunza Magazine; January 26 2004:Youth Action in Lebanon
The story of how five students got together to replant a forest devastated by fire - sowing the seeds of what was to become a full-scale national youth action group for the environment.

January 12 2004:Return of the Pilgrims to Wales
THE Western Mail reports how ARC is helping the sacred and often secret history of Wales to be celebrated with the mapping of a 650-mile pilgrimage route around the nation.

November 1, 2003:Holy Valley Protected
The future of an endangered holy valley was made more secure this week when a Maronite church leader presented a landmark document to HRH the Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace.

Our Planet, 17 September 2003:Keeping faith with nature
The world’s major religions agree on the importance of conservation and describes how they are taking action to put their beliefs into practice, Victoria Finlay writes.

September 10 2003:“Sacred Site” to be recognised term
WWF and ARC have launched a programme for sacred site to be internationally recognised. This will help protect environmentally important sacred places such as mountains, holy rivers and pilgrim routes.

8 September 2003:The Prince, the Prime Minister and the Patriarch
HRH Prince Philip has invited Mongolian Prime Minister and President of ARC, Mr Enkhbayar and the Maronite Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to Buckingham Palace in October to discuss urgent conservation projects.

Green Futures, 13 July 2003:Inner City Sanctums
Faith, it is said, can move mountains – so it should be up to shifting a few tons of concrete to create gardens and oases amongst the urban blight. Victoria Finlay lifts the veil on an unlikely marriage of religion - and regeneration.

13 July 2003:East Timor Christians join the Conservation cause
The Catholic Church in Dili has launched a pilot project to plant native trees and plants on parish land - concentrating on species that will help the local community. If it works, the initiative will be adopted island-wide.

Green Futures magazine, 25 March 2003:Spiritual capital across the divide
The main faiths control investments amounting to about 10 per cent of the world’s equities. That gives them a mighty lever for change, and it’s one which they are just beginning to wield.

24 December 2002:Indonesia’s religions meet for first time since Bali bombing
Faith is vital to the majority of people in the world – for some of the poorest it may be all they have. At a meeting in Bogor, funded partly by the World Bank and ARC, representatives from Muslim, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian faiths, as well as NGOs talk about how to heal the problems of the environment.

The Independent newspaper, 25 November 2002:ARC’s celebration of Creation: fit for a Queen
A gathering of the leaders of the world’s 11 major religious faiths, at an international religious celebration of Queen Elizabeth's Golden Jubilee, could have profound repercussions around the world.

25 November 2002:Religions to challenge the definition of “good” investments
At a unique meeting held in New York, representatives of 22 major international religious funds agree to move towards creating an organisation to mobilise a proportion of the enormous financial resources of some of the major faiths, in a way that is consistent with their core values.

Church Times, 22 November 2002:How to do business for good
Religions have a big stick, says Paul Vallely. It’s the huge funds that they control.

ARC General Newsletters
Every few months we send out a newsletter about our activities. Please email us at arcworld@arcworld.org if you would like to join our mailing list and be kept informed.

April 2, 2014:Prayers and Meditations
Thoughtful devotions about creation and conservation from different religious traditions.

November 26, 2014:Radio Podcasts
ARC Secretary General Martin Palmer is often called upon to contribute to BBC radio programmes on topics relating to religion and conservation. Many of these broadcasts are available to download as podcasts from the BBC website.

ARC diary archive
Archive of past diary entries from the ARC website since April 2008.

ARC photo gallery
See some of ARC's work in pictures. Photos are available for use for non-commercial purposes, with credit to ARC and the photographer where relevant.